Szabolcs Zempléni, born in 1981, won first prize and the special prize at Concertino Praga at the age of 17. This was followed by first prize at the International Horn Competition in Békés, second prize at the International Horn Competition in Markneukirchen in 2000 and first prize at the International Horn Competition in Brno in 2001.

Szabolcs Zempléni won first prize at the International ARD Music Competition in Munich in 2005. Since then, he has performed solo concerts in the Czech Republic, Japan, China, Thailand, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United States under the baton of Ivan Fischer, Yakov Kreizberg, Jonathan Nott, Daniel Raiskin and Michael Sanderling. He has already made his debut in major concert halls such as the Auditorium in Rome, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie im Gasteig in Munich and the Bartók Hall in Budapest. He has also performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen and others. His chamber music partners include András Keller, Péter Nagy, Dénes Várjon, Christoph Eschenbach, Elena Bashkirova, Christian Zacharias and the Atos Trio.

Szabolcs Zempléni is a visiting professor at Trinity Music College in London and Tokyo Music College in Japan. From 2010, he held the professorship for horn at the University of Music in Trossingen. In 2018, he accepted a position at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. Since 2024, he has been professor of horn at the Berlin University of the Arts.

His first solo CD (Colours of the French Horn) was released in 2011.